Changing up the color of your hair is exciting and fun. It can be the start of a new chapter in life, a one-time deal, or an ongoing habit that becomes a part of your personal upkeep. Whatever the case may be, dying your hair can be a very fun and rewarding experience, but it comes at a cost.
Although you may have thought about the financial cost of dying your hair, the real price is paid in the health and well being of your lovely locks.
Hair, although resilient and strong, is also delicate. This means that the process of dying your hair can have a fairly large effect on the health of each strand. Hair bleach is meant to strip the hair of all color. Because your hair has a protective barrier, the bleach has to remove all of that moisture and resiliency to get to the color. The color is then taken out as well as leaving a bare hair strand.
The artificial coloring is then added to the strand, putting more chemicals into the hair. The hair dye typically doesn’t add any nutrients or protection back into the hair, as well. This means that once your hair is dyed, it has been through a lot of stress.
To compensate for that stress, many hair salons have started to do revitalizing treatments as a part of their hair dying process. This does help with rejuvenating the hair and it will speed up healing, but it’s not a cure all.
In addition to offering conditioning treatments after each dying session, many salons are swapping their traditional bleaches and dyes for healthier and less damaging options. This is a great development as it’s much safer for the hair and for the scalp, but this does not completely mediate damage either.
Taking all of this into account, the best way to color your hair without excessive damage is to allow your hair the time it needs between sessions to heal and repair itself. Repeatedly changing the color of your hair increases the damage after every treatment. If you are regularly stripping your hair of its natural protective barrier, your hair will become brittle and you will see a lot of breakage.
The key to proper hair coloring is to do it slowly, gradually, and with breaks in between. Some color changes take a few steps in between, but it is vital to the wellbeing of your hair to let it rest. Don’t try to switch colors too often. Prioritize the health of your hair. Enjoy the change and dye your hair! Just make sure to let your hair heal as well.